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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2012.1.159
Title
Tankard
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
mid 16th-14th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Luristan (Iran)
Period
Bronze Age, Late
Culture
Iranian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/56978

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Technique
Hammered
Dimensions
h. 11.7 x diam. at base 9 x diam. at rim 8 x wall thickness 0.9 cm (4 5/8 x 3 9/16 x 3 1/8 x 3/8 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: XRF data from Artax 1 and Tracer
Alloy: Bronze
Alloying Elements: copper, tin
Other Elements: lead, iron, nickel, arsenic
K. Eremin, January 2014

Technical Observations: The patina is a raised layer of green with fiber pseudomorphs. Large areas of underlying red are exposed. Light brown soil accretions cover many areas and most of the interior. The vessel is intact except for a hole in one side near the bottom. This has been repaired with a modern green resin. Many areas of the surface are well preserved, although scrape marks from cleaning are also present.

The thin walls and the imperfectly shaped profile of the rim indicate the vessel was raised by hammering. The handle too was probably largely formed by hammering. Bronze rivets attaching it at the top and bottom were peened tight on the interior and exterior surfaces.


Henry Lie (submitted 2012)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[Bernheimer's Antique Arts, Cambridge, MA] (by 1965), sold; to The Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection, Department of the Classics, Harvard University 1965-2012), transfer; to the Harvard Art Museums, 2012.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Transfer from the Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection, Department of the Classics, Harvard University
Accession Year
2012
Object Number
2012.1.159
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
The tankard has a slightly turned out rim and the body has an hourglass shape, with concave sides. The base is rounded, not flat, and has a circular bevel on the bottom. The lower portion of the body where it joins the base has a raised edge. The handle is a rather stretched out "omega" shape, mostly long and flat with the ends bent into S-shapes and riveted to the body. The handle is rectangular in section and the ends are flattened.

Publication History

  • John Crawford, Sidney Goldstein, George M. A. Hanfmann, John Kroll, Judith Lerner, Miranda Marvin, Charlotte Moore, and Duane Roller, Objects of Ancient Daily Life. A Catalogue of the Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection Belonging to the Department of the Classics, Harvard University, ed. Jane Waldbaum, Department of the Classics (unpublished manuscript, 1970), M131, p. 189 [J. S. Crawford]
  • Susanne Ebbinghaus, ed., Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes, Harvard Art Museum and Yale University Press (Cambridge, MA, 2014), p. 54

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu